NASCAR Power Rankings: Ryan Blaney bumps back to top after Bristol dirt

Dirt shook up the NBC Sports NASCAR Power Rankings as much as it did the Cup schedule.

Ryan Blaney is back on top after a strong performance on Bristol Motor Speedway’s red clay, but last week’s top driver William Byron didn’t slide far.

See how far Kyle Busch rocketed up the rankings after his Bristol win and who fell after the ninth race of the season:

1. Ryan Blaney (Last week: No. 2) Blaney returns to the top spot after a fifth-place finish at Bristol on Sunday night. The No. 12 Ford holds the highest average running position in the series at 9.048, making Blaney the lone driver with an average better than 10th. Blaney is still looking for a way back to victory lane after a three-win campaign in 2021, but he is tied with Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch for the most top-10 finishes this year (six) and has the second-most top fives (four), tying him with Byron and Kyle Larson. Blaney is always strong at superspeedways, so perhaps this weekend’s race at Talladega Superspeedway is where he finally breaks through.

2. William Byron (Last week: No. 1) Byron remains the only driver in Cup to win more than one race in 2022. However, the No. 24 team took a step back on the dirt at Bristol with an 18th-place finish and slides from the top spot in the rankings. The good news is that nothing from Bristol’s dirt will translate to the rest of the season. Byron maintains the fourth-best average running position (11.12) and sits fourth in points. A quiet day on the dirt doesn’t do much to quell the momentum of the No. 24 team.

3. Chase Elliott (Last week: No. 4) The series’ points leader bumps up a spot in this week’s rankings after a decent run on dirt. Elliott’s weekend started with spins aplenty, going for loops on four separate